Imbedded Sadness
by Darkened Shadows
Summary: In the aftermath of Edolas, Lucy takes her first solo mission. Why? The guild has been celebrating Lisanna's return for a week with no sign of stopping and Natsu seems permanently attached to the returned Strauss. What does this mean for Team Natsu? And what does Lucy's past have to do with it?
1. The Mission

**Disclaimer: Fairy Tail so doesn't belong to me. (If it did, I probably wouldn't be spending my free time writing fanfiction.)**

**Author's Notes: Okay, standard NaLuLi premise: Lisanna returns after the events of the Edolas arc and things change for Lucy. Lucy takes on her first solo mission when the rest of Fairy Tail is still celebrating Lisanna's return. I wanted to write this a little different than others because a lot of writers pass Lisanna off as kind of a bitch and I wanted to attempt something a little truer to the characters. I hope everyone likes this!**

* * *

Lucy stared at the request board, her eyes flitting back and forth between two prospects but no longer seeing either one. She could choose between taking care of some nonmagical bandits near the mountain ridge or go two towns over to help a wealthy individual solve a recently discovered puzzle. She grabbed the puzzle request after a moment before turning to face the rest of the guild hall.

There was a crowd gathered around Lisanna, just as there had been every day she'd come by the guild hall in the week since her return from Edolas. It was usually the Strauss siblings or Natsu and Happy at the center with the youngest Strauss but the bulk of the guild knew Lisanna, remembered her and missed her in the two years she'd been gone, presumed dead. She was happy for the white-haired girl, really and truly, but that didn't change the way her heart felt like stone in her chest.

It was like jealousy but not, she knew. She didn't begrudge anyone in this guild happiness, not even those that had at one time hurt her more than she liked to think about. Like Gajeel, who had once beaten her quite badly all in an attempt to draw Natsu to his person, all so he wouldn't be… bored. However, like many things in her life, she tried her best to not think about it and turned her mind to other things.

Her first solo mission, something suited to her strengths. Oh, sure, she'd done a couple things on her own before but she'd never actively searched out something to do on her own since Natsu decided to be partnered with her. However, because her rent was coming up fast again, she needed to take a job. And this one… well, it would cover her for a few months.

Lucy walked up to the bar, where Master Makarov was perched and watching his "children". She waited until he turned to her, which thankfully didn't take long, and she handed him the job poster. "I'm going to do this one," she told him.

He arched an eyebrow at the request and then directed his gaze at the pink-haired Dragon Slayer across the hall. "Doesn't this seem a bit small for you and Natsu?" Not to mention the opposite of requiring force, Lucy knew he was thinking.

"Just me," she told him. "I'm going to go by myself."

He nodded silently and twirled his hand in the air in a complicated-looking pattern. A white bird appeared and the Master pressed a magic sigil into its feathers. "To the puzzle request," he murmured softly. He turned his serious eyes back to Lucy. "Are you sure about this, Lucy? What if something goes wrong?"

Her face faltered into a shattered frown before she managed to mold her face back into a bright smile. "I rely on Natsu and Gray and Erza way too much. I'll never get strong if I don't do things myself. Besides," she added with a sidelong glance at the Lisanna crowd, "I don't want to bother them."

"Lucy, why haven't you told them anything of your past?"

She looked back at himself, her brown eyes sharp. "How do you know I haven't?"

Makarov's lips curled into a slight smile. "I'm not the master of this guild for nothing, Lucy. You've been here for almost a year and even I know very little about your time as a Heartfilia."

Lucy shrugged, tilting her head down. "No one's really asked, I guess. It's not important, you know, not like Gray with Lyon or Erza with Jellal or Natsu with Igneel. It's just sad." She looked up at him again, memory-induced tears swimming in her eyes but not falling. "Is that all?"

The Master swallowed and nodded, watching with worried eyes as she took long strides out of the guild hall. "Do well, Lucky Lucy," he murmured to himself.

* * *

Lucy returned home to pack, looking down as she fumbled with her house keys. As such, she didn't see the person standing in front of her house until a slim hand reached out to pluck the key ring from her grasp. She immediately glanced up, her eyes hard and inhaling deeply in preparation to yell at the person, when she got a good look.

"Minerva," she greeted in a sigh that was the escaped air. Slowly, a grin blossomed across her face, her eyes sparkling with the sight of a friend, a friend that was neither Fairy Tail nor Heartfilia-related. Well, mostly… "What are you doing here?"

"The master is dying," she said. She lifted her eyes from the shadow of her bangs, revealing ice-blue orbs swimming in sorrow. "He asks to see you."

Lucy looked at her friend, her heart constricting suddenly. Minerva had always been smaller than her, her body trapped in prepubescence, but she was much older and it reflected in her face. She swallowed and held out a hand, which Minerva then dropped the keys back into. "Come inside," Lucy said softly. "I'll make some tea."

The small woman nodded, her spring green hair shifting slightly with the movement. She followed the blonde into the house while Lucy thought about this. She busied herself with the making of the tea, hoping the familiar and steady motions would calm her mind. She had known that her magic sensei would die soon – he had been a decrepit old man the entire time she'd known him. It was now that she regretted not asking her father what had happened to the rest of the staff.

"Where is he?" she asked softly when she set the teacups on the table.

"A couple of towns over, in Kunugi. He said he posted a request at Fairy Tail for you but he sent me just in case you didn't take it. He said it was your cup of tea." Minerva attempted a smile but the expression only made her face looked cracked.

"The puzzle," Lucy said with dawning realization. She looked down at the request poster in her hand, suddenly balling it up in a fist. "He didn't need to pay me in order for me to come."

Minerva held her hands up in a submissive gesture. "No, Lucy-san. There's really a puzzle and it has to be undone before he dies. He just wanted you to be the one to do it."

Allowing her fist to unclench, Lucy nodded silently and took a sip of her green tea. The job had already taken a turn she didn't like and she hadn't even left yet. She found herself wishing for Natsu's solid presence but shook her head immediately at the thought. Taking this mission was about being on her own, about holding herself up so that no one else would have to and proving to herself that she could survive without a support structure. After all, the guild was her family, deeply carved into her heart in less than a year, but she knew from experience that sometimes you can hate your family even as you love them. Worse than that, sometimes family may only keep you close as long as you are useful.

With a heavy sigh, she glanced at the window and saw the low position of the sun. "We can take the six-o'clock train. That way, we can get to Belo-jiisan's house just after nightfall." She darted a sidelong glance at the green-haired Minerva. "It's causing him pain, isn't it?"

The woman jerked then, her spine stiffening in surprise. "How did you know?"

Lucy allowed a small smile to grace her features. "The way you said it, like it's forcing him to stay alive. Binding magic, I'd guess. It causes pain when it fights your body's natural needs." She stood then, darting her eyes down to check the presence of her spirit keys and her fleuve d'etoiles, the spiritual whip container she carried on her side. "Let's go, then."

Minerva flailed her hands for a moment. "But… the cups!"

The blond girl rolled her eyes and gathered the tea set, dumping it gently and somewhat unceremoniously in the sink. "They can wait," she told her.

Minerva wilted slightly, following Lucy as they left the house. "You haven't changed at all," she complained softly.

The familiar words caused the celestial spirit mage to laugh aloud.

* * *

Erza Scarlet watched Lucy walk toward the train station from a partially shadowed corner. She felt a little like a stalker but was reassured when she reminded herself that she was just checking on the girl. After all, Lucy had been a little withdrawn since Edolas, something that the magic knight's investigative abilities revealed to be a likely result of Natsu's sudden disappearance from her side.

She had always thought it was a bad idea for Lucy to be in a team so early in her magic career. It led to her relying too much on someone that might not always be there. Erza herself was well aware of how people could disappear on you or force you to abandon others. But the fact was that Lucy and Natsu worked really well together, despite the huge differences in their magic. Magic type, not magic capability, because Lucy's capacity for power could rival that of the Dragon Slayer if she only realized how strong she was.

Smiling, she watched as Lucy blossomed back into her happy, animated self. Whoever that green-haired child was, she helped the young mage to return to normal, despite the undercurrent of despair she could sense from the two of them. Whatever it was, Erza could wait until Lucy returned to Magnolia to ask her about it. It didn't seem urgent, so she could be as patient as she needed to be.

Walking back toward the guild, Erza thought about the reason she'd been pretty much spying on Lucy to begin with. She wasn't nearly attached to Lisanna as many of the people in the guild, the weird conflict between herself and Mirajane and her own tendency to maintain a personal distance from others creating an impersonal gap between herself and the youngest Strauss. Additionally, with Natsu deeply preoccupied and Lucy's rent likely coming up again soon, Erza thought it would be nice to do a mission together, just the two of them.

When Master Makarov had told her that Lucy had accepted a solitary mission less than ten minutes ago, Erza immediately knew that the girl was likely accepting Natsu's current behavior as permanent. And why not? The boy was quite changeable in nature but had almost glued himself to Lisanna's side in the past few days, almost as if he was afraid she would disappear again.

Erza paused as she reached the guild hall, gazing bemusedly at the tall doors. Yes, that was probably it. After all, when someone comes back from the dead, it wasn't out of the ordinary to want to be reassured of their presence.

"Erza!" a small voice called frantically.

She smiled slightly at the diminutive figure of Wendy approaching her. "What is it?"

"Happy and Carla are arguing about something and I think it's about Lucy."

Frowning, Erza pushed open the doors and strode past the younger blue-haired girl. There was a small crowd in a corner of the hall, something that had become a semipermanent feature since Lisanna's return, but the knight concentrated on scanning the building for the small Exceeds. After a moment, she grinned, having found them on the railing on the second floor. "Come on, Wendy," she said softly, leading them up the stairs.

Smiling slightly, Wendy grabbed a hold of Erza's hand. "I hope everything's okay," she murmured.

"Lucy would never leave us!" Happy was hissing at Carla when Erza was finally in earshot.

"So you say. I heard the old man allowing her to go on a solo mission. She asked for it, Happy!" Carla hissed back, her white face contorted in anger. Knowing the small cat, she had probably said this a few times already.

"She wouldn't! Me and Natsu and Lucy are a team. We do all our jobs together now."

With a heavy sigh, Carla forcibly turned the blue cat in front of her and pointed an imperious paw at the crowd on the ground floor. "Does Natsu look like he even wants to take on a job right now?" She shook her head to further drive the point home. "But… I heard where she was going," she trilled in a singsong voice.

"No," Erza said, her voice full of the authority of a mage of her rank. "You will do no such thing."

Both Exceeds slowly turned to look at her, their eyes wide in horror and fear. "But, Erza," Happy started.

"I said, no," the magic knight repeated, her order like a steel vice. "Lucy chose to go on a solo mission. It's not our place to interfere with her jobs."

"He said something might go wrong," Carla interjected softly.

"Who?" the red-haired woman asked after a moment, her tone gentling slightly.

"Master Makarov," Carla answered instantly. "Do things go wrong a lot?"

Erza tilted her head slightly, thinking about how often a job – even a simple, low-paying job – could suddenly take a left turn. She inclined her head slightly. "I'll talk to the Master."

Shooting Wendy a warning look, she was relieved when the young Dragon Slayer stayed with the Exceeds instead of following her down to the bar. Makarov still sat there, staff in hand and a small smile playing on his lips as he watched the movements of his guild. Erza stood off to the side, her posture stiff as she waited for him to address her. It was not lost on her that her strict need of a chain of command likely came from those early years in one of the several Towers of Heaven.

"Erza," Makarov greeted softly, a single note of fondness thrumming through his voice. "I take it Lucy was well?"

Erza ducked her head, well aware there wasn't much that could be hidden from the Master. "She was," she agreed. "She has already left for her mission."

Arching an eyebrow, the elderly mage tapped the staff lightly on his knee. "That was quick," he remarked. "She must be eager to work."

Nodding once curtly, Erza moved on to her concern. "Are you afraid something will go wrong?"

Sighing deeply, Makarov shrugged his shoulders. "The poster didn't say it but the job was requested by an unaffiliated mage. With the problems we've had with the dark guilds, I wondered if it was a trap." He shook his head then. "I suppose I'm just an old man who worries too much."

Erza's face hardened, anger sweeping up her features at the thought of a dark guild trying to trap their Lucy. "Should I follow her, Master?"

Makarov shook his head firmly. "It's a simple job. Perhaps if she does not return in a few days, I'll allow it. Just give it time."

"Yes, sir." With a sigh of resignation, the armored mage tilted her head back to look up at the magical cats. They looked down at her, concern marring their feline features, and she smiled encouragingly, emptying her own face of all worry. Next would come the difficult part: keeping Happy from telling Natsu that Lucy had left on a job.

On the other hand, Erza idly wondered how long it would take for the fire mage to notice the blonde's absence.


	2. The Curse

**A/N: I absolutely love that I got so many reviews and followers already, considering this is my first Fairy Tail fic. I hope everyone likes this chapter. I'm proud of myself for getting out this much in a day. Just a gentle reminder: I won't be updating quite this often all the time - I also have college classes that require my attention as well. Everyone, read and review!**

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The train ride to Kunugi was uneventful, which was something of a novelty to Lucy now. There was always Natsu, who barely held it together on any type of mechanical transportation, or Happy, who often got antsy enough to talk her ear off or bounce around the train car, or Erza, whose uber-calm was the most unnerving of all. However, Minerva was the opposite of Natsu – transportation put her to sleep, the result of the prepubescent body.

Yawning, Minerva followed the blond mage off the train and pointed in a vague direction. "Master Belo lives there."

Lucy blinked, scanning the skyline of the small city. "Where, exactly?"

"The manor. The one the towers over everything else."

The celestial spirit mage's eyes widened, focusing on the three-story stone building directly in her line of sight. "I thought that was a cathedral," she murmured to herself, finally leading them both in that direction. After a couple minutes of silence, she decided to ask Minerva something else. "What about the puzzle? Can you tell me anything about it?"

The green-haired mage behind her scoffed softly. "Not a thing. Master Belo won't even let me look at it."

Lucy frowned, half-tilting her head back to look at her friend. "Why not?"

She shrugged. "He says the magic that's keeping him from dying will transfer to me. I offered, you know. At least, he wouldn't be in pain any longer."

However, the blonde merely inclined her head, her mind instantly seeing her former sensei's reasoning. "Transferring the magic won't fix anything. He was right to submit it to a guild."

Minerva harrumphed and Lucy was reminded that while the woman was older than her, it wasn't by too much. Emotionally, at least. "Why is it okay for you but not for me?"

"You're his granddaughter, Minerva." Lucy smiled at her gently, somehow managing to convey her sadness in the look. "It's probably bound in blood."

The small woman sighed. "That's what Master Belo said."

By that time, they had reached the manor and the very tall doors that led inside, which Minerva immediately pushed open. She trudged on sluggish legs down a corridor, diverting Lucy's attention to a large room to the right of the foyer. "He's in there?" the blonde inquired.

"If not there, he uses the room through the door to the left of the fireplace. I'm going to bed." With that, Minerva continued on her path, ostensibly to her own room. Lucy idly wondered how long it had been since she had last slept.

Lucy peered into the large room for a moment before walked farther into the manor. It was a large sitting room and she heard the crackle of the burning wood and Belo's labored breathing but she wanted to see the puzzle first. _Curse,_ she reminded herself. _He probably put 'puzzle' on the request so it wouldn't scare people away._ She looked at the staircase in front of her, shaking her head after a moment of thought. The center of the curse was likely in the basement.

Curses were nasty things and most people tended to shy away from them. She knew enough about the nature of curses themselves not to be afraid of them, though. Curses were a type of seal – the most common, actually – designed with flaws in order to be broken. There were magic seals in this world that couldn't be broken but they were lost to time, sealing things so horrible or so powerful that the mere mention of them was as legend. However, if Belo-jiisan believed she could do it, then she _would_ do it.

It would be built into the foundation of the manor itself. It had likely been in the family longer than her sensei himself had been alive. But she wouldn't know the details until she saw the curse itself. With that thought in mind, she smiled to herself when she found a door to the rear of the stairs. Opening it, it revealed another set of stairs that spiraled down into darkness.

Taking a steadying breath, Lucy glared at the thick black that seems to be barring her progress. "You can do this, Lucy. You're a member of Fairy Tail, too." She held up a hand to the sky and murmured a spell she hadn't needed to use for a long while. "Light my path." With those three simple words, a small ball composed of small pinpricks of light appeared in her hand, chasing away the shadows quite effectively. However, where the light didn't reach, the darkness remained, trying to curl toward her in wisps of black fog.

Sighing, she hurried down the stairs, feeling like the darkness would catch up to her if she didn't. She had never seen living shadow before but had read about it – it was probably keeping people outside of Belo's bloodline from encountering the curse. That thought lightened her mood incrementally. Living shadow was easily dispelled with magical light and as it was protecting the curse itself, that hinted that the problem was easily fixable.

As light returned, Lucy deemed it safe to release her light spell, lowering her hands to break the enchantment. When she got closer to the source of the light, she realized it was shifting through a prismatic cycle. A curse based on light, maybe? She bit her lip and took the last steps forward. She could feel doubt swirling in her mind, reminding her that she wasn't a dispeller by any means, but she would do this for Belo.

The very first thing she realized was that this curse was actually a multilayered spell. Spell circles, runes, light, elemental traps and it was all centered around a faded and weathered altar. This would take time and information she didn't have, she realized, and moved to return to the ground floor of the manor. That was when the illusion spell she hadn't noticed trapped her mind.

"Heartfilia-hime," a snaky voice whispered.

Lucy stiffened, her shoulders hunching and her eyes clenching shut. The voice was cold and empty and somehow pierced into her gut, opening wounds that a mere title shouldn't cause. Just the sound of the voice caused several images to flash before her mind's eyes: a broken rice ball, a ripped embroidery cloth, a broken full-length mirror. Steeling herself, she turned to face the voice, ready to see her father's face, the source of all her worst memories.

She immediately choked, unprepared for who she did see and barely able to suppress the laugh that bubbled in her throat. It was Natsu, her best friend in the entire world. It didn't matter that he hadn't said anything to her in the past week that didn't have something to do with Lisanna. Her partner was anything but cold; he was warm and safe and always grinning. Anything that this ghost of a spell said to her was defeated before it even passed to her eardrums.

She still felt the words like an imprint on her brain. _'Useless, beyond your power, weak, shouldn't have come alone…'_ She could feel them because they were just an echo of her own doubts but the image of that emotionless Natsu was gone before she could even begin to enumerate all the things that made it obvious that it wasn't the real Natsu.

You know, other than the fact that it was obvious that the real Natsu was still in the guild, fawning over and much too glad of his oldest friend's presence.

Heaving another unnecessary sigh, Lucy walked back up the stairs. She didn't even bother with the light spell this time, for the presence of the shadows no longer bothered her. It couldn't compete with the gloom that lived in her own mind. But it was time to get some crucial information from Belo-jiisan.

She wouldn't sleep until he was free of the curse.

* * *

Happy narrowed his eyes at Wendy and Carla, irritated beyond measure. He belonged to Natsu and it had always been that way. Sure, they got in fights but they always made up in the end, something that in the past few months had a lot to do with Lucy herself. Now, because of Erza's declaration, Carla wouldn't tell him where Lucy was no matter how many times he asked.

He looked down at the ground floor toward the Fire Dragon Slayer again, not sure whether he wanted to smile in fondness or sneer in disappointed disgust. Lucy was gone! Natsu didn't even know! Or… or notice that it had happened at all. He wanted so much to tell him but Erza caught the blue Exceed's eyes immediately and shook her head. Happy didn't know why she didn't want Natsu to know about Lucy being on a mission but if she was being this adamant about it, it had to be important.

As things stood, the cat only had one option remaining if he wanted to find Lucy.

His face set in determination, Happy activated his wings and drifted down to the bar, landing on silent paws right next to the guild master. "Master?" he asked softly.

The elderly man turned to the cat, his visage vaguely surprised. "Happy?" Even as dense as he could be sometimes, the cat could hear the question hiding in the single word.

"Lucy took a job, right?"

Makarov frowned slightly but nodded. "She did," he drawled, obviously not entirely sure why it was the cat and not the mage that asked.

"Where is she?"

His frown deepened and he shook his head. "You have no reason to know that."

That response made the little cat snap, despite the way an inner voice tried to remind him that this was the guild's master he was raising his voice to. "Yes, I do! Lucy's my friend and—and I don't want her to feel alone!"

Makarov's lips quirked slightly, giving him a look of bemusement. "Why do you think she feels alone?"

Happy was taken aback slightly. Maybe he was wrong; maybe Lucy hadn't been sad. But then he remembered the sad smile she'd been wearing lately, the same smile that had been on her face just before she had disappeared back to the Heartfilia estate months before. It was a dead giveaway that something was happening or had to happen that the blond mage didn't necessarily like. "Because… Lisanna's back and Natsu can forget things so fast. Like Lucy doesn't have friends as close as we are. She doesn't make friends fast."

"She seemed to make friends fast enough," the Master remarked.

Happy shook his head. He knew Lucy well enough to know that she had a slight tendency to shy away from people when she wasn't extremely excited. "They made friends with her. It's not the same."

Smiling softly, the Master nodded his head. "I thought so. She's in Kunugi, look for the large stone manor."

The blue cat grinned up at Makarov. "Thanks, jiichan!" With that, Happy activated his wings again and took off like a shot, gliding out of the guild just as the door were closing from another person's entrance. Makarov's face broke into a grin at the Exceed's departure. Despite whatever Lucy may be feeling right now or whatever had happened in her past, she definitely had people that cared about her.


	3. The Solution

**A/N: Another chapter, yay! In return for being a little later than I'd like on updating, it's a little bit longer than normal. Thanks, everyone, for the reviews. Continue to read and review!**

* * *

Lucy watched silently as a seizure gripped Belo's frame, the second in ten minutes, and her eyes were pained but she refused to look away from his predicament. When he wasn't seizing, his shaking had still showed itself to have gotten much worse since she'd last seen him on that fateful trip back to the Heartfilia estate and it was a clear sign that his extended lifespan was particularly detrimental. His brain was having a hard time containing the electrical impulses of being alive and it showed in his every movement.

Finally, the tremors passed and Belo gave her a weak smile. "How's Macky?" he asked shakily.

Lucy's face relaxed, a soft smile overwhelming her features as she remembered her magic teacher knew her guild master pretty well. Well, as well as a member of Blue Pegasus could know a Fairy Tail wizard, at any rate. "He's fine. Some health problems but nothing so bad as yours." She sighed deeply, the upward lift of her lips drifting down. "Why didn't you contact me sooner?"

He tried to smile, his whiskered face forming happiness through the pain that she could see. "For the same reason this curse has existed for generations. It has a rebound effect, I believe."

She frowned slightly, pulling her lower lips to worry it with her teeth. "Why couldn't you take care of it? You're the one that taught me this type of thing."

Belo shook his head. "I can't see it."

Eyes widening slightly, Lucy slowly nodded, slotting the information to the scant knowledge she had about the curse. "If you can't see it, then how…?" She trailed off, her head tilting at the elderly man.

"The bearer of the bind can't see the spell. Or curse, or whatever it may be. And I couldn't bear for… for Minerva to…" Belo trailed off, his declaration clear and his face achingly sad.

Lucy laid a gentle hand on her mentor's arm. "She never will," she assured him with a smile that exuded more warmth than the sun. "Why me, though?"

"You're the strongest celestial mage I've ever seen," he said instantly, the tone of his voice startled. Almost as if he was surprised that she didn't realize her own power.

"I'm not strong at all, Belo-jiichan. I'm weak. I'm the weakest one on my team."

He pinned her with a hard look, though the shaking of his body took away from the expression just a bit. "How many of the twelve Golden Gate keys do you have?"

Frowning, Lucy paused and counted through her spirit keys, glancing down at her pouch as if to reassure herself of the number. "Nine," she finally answered.

Belo chuckled softly. "Nine Zodiac spirits are nothing to scoff at, Little Lucy." In the echo of her nickname, the blond mage tilted her head slightly, having heard something. Was there something outside the manor or was she imagining things? "I take it the other members of your team are physically strong?"

Lucy nodded, feeling sheepish. She had learned from Belo firsthand that mages were not meant to be strong in body but in mind. So, she always kept her mind as sharp as a tack. But she had lately been lumped into the same category as Wendy as far as her usefulness went (maybe even less so, seeing as how she couldn't heal people). That aside, her recent jaunt to Edolas had shown just what everyone thought of her abilities – when she had been the only one with magical power, everyone but Wendy had all but assumed they would fail if they had to rely on her magic. Despite her own attempts to puff herself up and keep morale high, it had left her feeling as deflated as an overused tire.

"If you want to train your body as well, Master Kato relocated to Magnolia after your father lost the estate."

Lucy arched an eyebrow. "The dance instructor?"

Belo shrugged. "He began as a defense trainer. I imagine he's gone back to it." He pinned her with another look. "You should do just as much with your magic studies, though."

She nodded again, about to confirm her intention to train herself more in her celestial magic, when she heard a loud thump. It sounded like it came from the doors and it was followed by a wail. "LUCY!"

Frowning deeply, Lucy stood immediately, casting a glance at Belo. He smiled and lifted a hand in an extremely weak dismissive gesture. Permission given, the blonde scurried out of the room to answer the door. However, she felt ill at ease. No one knew she was here, right? Master Makarov had a bit of a habit of not telling anyone where someone else was unless he was worried.

That made her pause half a step. Did he think that little of her?

Shaking the thoughts loose, she opened the door, unprepared for the blue blur that attacked her torso. "Lucy!" It was Happy, obviously. Curious, the celestial mage peered out the door, expecting to see Natsu or Erza or Gray or all of them. It was slightly disappointing when her eyes were met with an empty street.

Sighing softly, she closed the door. She would never admit it but she secretly loved when they would come after her when she disappeared. It showed that she had real friends, people that actually cared what happened to her. She hadn't had that since her mother had died seven years before. As much as she had loved them, the staff had always been another story – they had to follow her father's orders, often much to their dismay.

"Happy, what are you doing here? Where's Natsu?" It was a little odd to see the little blue Exceed without the pink-haired Dragon Slayer anywhere nearby.

"I was worried!" the little cat exclaimed immediately. "Carla said you went on a job by yourself and then Erza wouldn't let me tell Natsu, so I asked the Master and he told me where you were 'cause I said you seemed sad." Happy paused to inhale a breath. "Are you sad?"

Lucy's lips curled into a smile, her brown eyes twinkling at Happy's ramble. "Not with you here," she answered simply, falling back on her instinctual behavior when around children or small animals. Even though Happy did sometimes irritate her to no end.

"Really?" The blue cat perked up then, smiling brightly back at her.

"Who can be sad with Happy around, huh?" Besides, she reasoned, she hated it when any of Fairy Tail was sad or angry or hurt because of her. Like it was the most natural thing in the world, Happy jumped up and activated his wings, grabbing Lucy's neck in a tight hug. Except for Levy, when was the last time she'd been hugged?

Boy, that was a depressing thought.

Continuing to carry Happy in her arms, Lucy returned to the sitting room. Once she was within sight of Belo's chair, she hurried to his side again, her brown eyes noting the way his hands clenched at the arm. Biting back a shuddering sob, she watched as a new and more vicious seizure overwhelmed her mentor's faculties, something that would have pitched him from the chair if he hadn't retained enough will to lock his grip before it began.

"I'm fixing this now," she murmured in pure conviction.

"What's wrong with him?" the cat asked softly.

"This is the client, Belo Remus. The curse is doing this to him."

"Curse?" the cat echoed, settling back on his haunches. "I thought you were here for a puzzle."

Lucy tilted her head slightly, sighing in relief when the seizure showed signs of letting up. "Well, it is a bit of a puzzle. Dozens of magical layers over what has to be a single curse. I have to break it. If I don't, this will keep happening more and more often."

"The Final Rite," Belo murmured then, his voice croaking.

Lucy opened her mouth, ready to argue the point with the elderly man, when she set her gaze on his face. He was alternately determined and beyond exhausted. There was no way she could deny him. "Okay. I'll need blood."

He exhaled, nodding his assent. Raising his hand, he pointed to a cupboard across the room. Lucy scurried over to it, opening the doors to reveal nurse's equipment. She grabbed a syringe and four vials, clenching her teeth momentarily at the thought of drawing blood. It wasn't that she was queasy exactly but she didn't relish the idea of dealing with bodily fluids. When he saw the number of glass vials in her hand, he smiled. "That's good, Lucy dear. You'll need plenty of blood."

* * *

"Are you sure you can do this?"

Lucy tilted her head back to look over her shoulder at the cat. Happy stood outside the boundary of the spells like she had instructed, darting his eyes skittishly at the darkness that curled around his little legs. "Can't you have just a little faith in me?" she pleaded, a touch of her self-consciousness bleeding out in her words for the Exceed to hear.

Happy took a step toward her, reaching out with one hand in response to the vague pain in her tone. "I do, Lucy. It's just…" He cast a look around at the various spells. "This looks really complicated."

She held up a hand, palm facing outward to remind him that he had moved toward the curse. "This is exactly the type of thing I _can_ do, Happy. All brains, no brawn. Now, remember, don't walk into the range of the spells."

"What about you?" Happy sounded almost afraid for her and Lucy had to remind her how dark and dastardly this whole thing looked from the outside. Once she had stepped within the grip of the curse, all of the spells had shifted dramatically on the prismatic scale, their colors bright and inviting.

"I know how to remain free of them. That's one of the things Belo-jiichan taught me."

"Jiichan?" Happy echoed uncertainly. "You know the client?"

Lucy nodded, moving through the spells to the altar at the center of everything. This was likely where the center of the curse laid. "He's my—was my magic teacher. My mother employed him when she started getting sick."

The cat finally sat down, realizing it was the only way he could stay put. As long as he was standing, he wanted to move over to Lucy's side but she had been extremely firm about him not coming in contact with the curse. "What'll happen to him after you break the curse?"

"He'll die." She said it in an empty, flat voice, completely emotionless. As scary as Lucy could be from time to time, Lucy without emotion frightened him more than anything else.

"But—" he started.

"Happy, I need to concentrate now, okay?" Lucy's voice was now soft and entreating, reminding the Exceed that she was still Lucy, underneath everything that bothered her. She was still the person that took care of everyone on the team when they were far too drained to move, still the girl who would risk herself for anyone in the guild, still the mage that hated to see anyone in pain.

"Okay," Happy said immediately, placing his front paws over his mouth to keep himself silent. Maybe if he was quiet enough, he would learn something new about the blond mage, something that no one else knew.

Lucy stood in front of the altar, her hand drifting gently over the two vials of blood on her belt. They would be the crux of her solution, the perfect medium for destroying the multilayered curse. However, first she needed more information about the curse itself. The single leatherbound book on the stone altar looked like the best guess. Even as she pressed forward, she could feel the spells pressing in on her mind and the result was much like that of the illusion spell. Some of them would take hold but quickly release or manifest very weakly as she was not a member of Belo's family.

At the altar, she lowered herself to her knees, grimacing momentarily at the feel of grimy dirt against the skin of her knees but forcing herself to deal with it. Even if she wasn't so determined to help her old mentor, she still felt the need to do well on this solo mission in order to prepare herself for the future. She couldn't very well depend on Natsu forever, now could she?

Opening the book that she could now see was a journal, she thanked her natural tendency to learn some of the script Levy was constantly studying. These entries were older, much older than the language Fiore currently used. It wasn't too far out of her range of knowledge, just an old version of the runic language Freed used with more flowery script and terminology that seemed a little foreign. But it was still enlightening.

_Late Summer, X585_

_I finally found the Staff of Sorrows. I am very glad that this source was a reliable one and that she also led Phoenix Shade astray. I dearly hope they do not realize her actions and return to mete out punishment. Research on this item is scarce. Study shall begin with the new moon._

Lucy found this interesting. In older years, she knew that mages would use lunar cycles as a basis, which she as a celestial mage could completely understand. The new moon phase of the cycle was said to help in cleansing darkness.

_Mid-Autumn, X585_

_I had surmised this was a weapon or creation of the dark wizard Zeref. It seems I was mistaken. In finally, meticulously removing the seal on this wretched staff, the creature released shows no form of allegiance to a master of any kind. I should have known when the seal was far too easy break but I was far too overconfident. They do say pride goeth before a fall. The demon is a form of pure chaos. This should not be confused with Zeref's demons, who seem highly chaotic to the human sensitivities but are actually quite devoted to destruction. My only path now lays in the capture and destruction of this demon. It should be noted that in breaking the seal, the Staff of Sorrows also shattered, a clear sign that this was not magic belonging to Zeref of old._

Lucy shivered slightly, having a vague idea of what was coming. Dealing with demons never had a happy ending. Until she had seen Erza, Natsu, and Gray deal with the demon of the Lullaby, she had thought that demon slaying would always end in tragedy. Well, okay, the destruction of the building where the Masters had been having their regular meeting hadn't been the best alternative, but at least there had been no demonic mass murders.

She turned the page and nearly gagged. The writing on this page was shaky and spotted with blood. A quick skim proved that this was when the curse itself had been created and she now saw why it was a family curse. More importantly, she saw how to break it.

_Mid-Winter, X585_

_I have finally performed the spell to lure the demon back to its waking place. However, this was not the important part. Once it walks through my doors, it will be bound to this place until it becomes harmless. My difficulty was in creating the right way to kill it. As with most demons, this creature is nigh immortal and has a longevity that I cannot even imagine. It took me six weeks to lay down the spells that would hold it here and initialize the process of draining it. However, my power is weak and I must guarantee that the drain continues for one hundred years. With that in mind, I have cursed my own blood, my own descendants to come. It will take a portion of our power at all times to continue the process. I cannot even begin to guess the side effects of such dark magic. With my blood, I contain this demon and condemn all that I am. May the Kami save my soul for such desecration._

Closing the book, Lucy sighed and gazed at the altar. The blood was extremely faded and no longer legible but the ancient mage's account gave her enough information. He had locked away half away the Remus family's magic potential to destroy a demon, a noble mission surely but equally damning. This was what they meant when they said the road to hell was paved with good intentions.

Popping the top off of one of the vials, she poured half of its contents over two of her fingers and began marking basic runes into the altar, covering the original line. This new line would be written in living family blood, meant to finish the spell. Since it was twice the amount of time that Belo's ancestor had estimated was needed to destroy the demon, Lucy felt no qualms about breaking the curse.

"In the name of Remus," she murmured as she marked the blood into stone, "I end this spell. So it is written, so it shall be."

It was so simple that one might think there was no way it could work. However, as the spells shut down around her, she knew it was correct. As difficult as it had been for the ancient Remus wizard to set up, it was designed to be equally easy to end. The problem had always been in what the mage had referred to as unforeseeable side effects.

"Wow, Lucy!" Happy declared suddenly. "You did it!"

Biting her lip, Lucy hugged herself, finally feeling the chill of the basement. She should feel good, happy even. She had finished her first solo mission. She was a success and the opposite of the failure that she been feeling like lately. So, how was it fair that this house – and the world along with it – felt even emptier now?


	4. The Final Rite

**A/N: Eh, this chapter is a little shorter than normal and a little like pulling teeth. Blech! I hope you enjoy it cuz it's gonna get a little interesting after this one. Please, read and review!**

* * *

Natsu woke on a floating cloud of pink.

As his keen eyes sharpened with his waking mind, he realized he was in Lucy's rented house, not something that was particularly out of the ordinary. However, for a moment, he couldn't remember how he'd gotten there from the guild hall. He remembered the Strauss siblings departing for home in preparation for the mission they would be leaving on that day, a nice simple job that would help Lisanna and Mirajane get back into the groove of taking on work. Though Mira had recently been able to take on her Demon form again, she had yet to continue working and Lisanna had lived the last two years without the ability to use her own power.

So, the party ended.

It was then that Natsu realized that both Happy and Lucy were nowhere to be found. A glance to the bar revealed no blond celestial mage and a look to the second floor railing revealed Carla and Pantherlily but no Happy. Could they be somewhere together? Lucy took care of Happy a lot, ever since they teamed up and even though his teasing sometimes annoyed her more than she would say.

So, his alternative had been to ask Erza. She had asked him if he had checked her house. So, he had done that, feeling extremely dense for not thinking of it first. Of course, Lucy would be home. No matter how raucous the guild could get, she often kept a schedule of her own making that he had to guess came from the days she still lived with her father.

He had obviously been more tired than he thought because he had immediately fallen asleep on her very comfortable bed. The split-second before his unique dreamscape claimed him, he realized that Lucy wasn't in the bed but that hadn't seemed to matter so much at the time.

Now, staring at the ceiling, he was painfully aware of the quiet of the house. How could Lucy cope with this? Having grown up first with a dragon (who could be painfully loud to humans as was part of their nature) and then the guild, the absence of noise seemed frighteningly unnatural. But more important, where was Lucy? She hadn't been there the night before and definitely wasn't there now.

Natsu's naturally open face pulled down into a deep frown, his mind struggling through various possibilities. Could something have happened to her? No, that couldn't be it. Aside from the incident with Phantom Lord, Lucy had never been in any danger while inside the boundaries of Magnolia. Well, okay, that was maybe not entirely true but Lucy was strong. No matter how much he and Erza and Gray did their best to protect her, the truth was that she probably need really need any one of them.

Pressing a hand to his forehead as if to soothe pain there, Natsu flipped his body out of the bed and ducked out of the window. It would do him absolutely no good to strain himself in this way. Outside of battle, he was no good at thinking. If it couldn't be solved through force, he was at a bit of a loss. So, with that in mind, he returned to the guild to find a new mission for them. Wherever Lucy was, he'd have something for them to do when she returned.

* * *

"What's the Final Rite?" Happy asked softly from the chair as he and Lucy watched Minerva prepare Belo's body for burial. There would be no funeral because the green-haired woman didn't want there to be, so Happy imagined they would be on the way back to Magnolia by the middle of the day.

Lucy looked down at the blue cat from her perch on the arm of the chair, watching Minerva's ministrations silently. Though she was willing to help, preparing the dead was the duty of the family and she needed to conserve her energy for the magical feats to come. "It's actually a two-part spell. The first is designed to seal a wizard's magic in his body and the second is to hide his grave."

Happy looked up at his friend in skeptical awe. "You can do that?"

The blonde shrugged, her heavy-lidded eyes giving away her current exhaustion. "Belo-jiichan always said I could be any kind of mage I wanted to. But I wanted to be a celestial spirit mage like my mom."

"Your mom was a mage?"

Lucy inclined her head, a soft smile pulling at her lips. "She was the best," she told her feline friend softly. "Sometimes I wonder why she—Well, never mind."

Happy stood, touching his paw lightly to her back. "Why she what?"

The blonde tilted her head to look at him, smiling brightly, but they both knew that the expression was false. "It doesn't matter." Though she still faced his direction, her eyes shifted to look at Minerva, who now stood above Belo's body. "Ready?"

Minerva nodded, tilting her newly angular face away from the scene of her grandfather. It was something Lucy had discovered as soon as she had woken the girl. Whatever magic had kept the twenty-something woman in a girl's body, something Belo had only ever told her was the result of a spell gone wrong, breaking the curse had effectively solved Minerva's personal problem. She now stood taller than and just as curvaceous as Lucy, the roundness of her young body dissipating into feminine angles. "As ready as I'll get. I'm not sure what to do about the grave, though. We don't have any staff."

"What about Virgo?" Happy suggested.

Brightening considerably, the exhaustion seemed to fade from Lucy's face and her fake smile became a genuine grin. She unhooked one of her golden keys from her spirit ring immediately. "That's a great idea, Happy. When'd you get so smart?" While the blue cat blushed happily at the compliment, Lucy drew a golden line in the air with the key. "Open the Gate of the Maiden, Virgo!"

The pink-haired maid spirit appeared instantly. "Is it time for punishment, Princess?"

"Punishment?" Minerva echoed uncertainly.

Lucy sighed softly and shook her head. "Don't ask. Virgo, I need you to dig a grave for Minerva."

The spirit lifted a hand to her chest and gasped. "A grave? Who died?"

Lucy pointed behind herself at the corpse on the bed that had recently been her mentor and client. "I have to perform the Final Rite. So, can you?"

Virgo nodded sharply. "Of course, Princess."

When Minerva and Virgo left the room, Lucy unhooked her celestial tools from her belt, setting them next to the Exceed. "Why are you doing that?" Happy asked in concern.

Lucy's lips quirked in bemusement. "They're tools of celestial magic. They could throw off the seal I'm about to set." With that said, the blonde turned back to the deceased client and took a deep breath. Closing her eyes, she evened her breathing and centered herself, forcing calm over her body.

Sealing was an art, that much was clear. It could be difficult and complex, a reason that Belo had always insisted she steer away from it if she was serious about following her mother's footsteps. However, sealing away the magic of a dead body was more like closing a box that wanted to be locked. It was maybe the easiest piece of foreign magic she'd ever mastered.

Keeping her eyes closed, Lucy floated her hands over Belo's body, trying to use some external sense to find his magic power. Long ago, he had told her that the magic of living beings is scattered all over their body but that of a dead mage tends to draw toward a central location, like water going down a drain. After a moment of concentration, she found it, circling his navel. Holding her left hand level over that location, she circled her right hand around it, willing the remaining magic to that point. When the last of his power dissipated into the ball in his abdomen, Lucy pressed both hands down, the black magic circle appearing through the force of her silent will. Tilting her head very slightly to the side, she pressed a little more magic power into the spell and a gray film spilled out of the circle, moving to envelop the dead man.

Exhaling a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding, Lucy stepped away, surveying the body with that magical sense that every wizard had. It was that thing that told them whether the person they faced was a regular human or a mage of some sort. Now, despite the power of the Remus blood that had thrummed through him, Belo just felt empty, human, and dead. She could feel a sob trying to claw its way out of her throat and she shook her head, knowing now was not the time to give in to her grief. Imagining her father's face, tight and unforgiving, she felt the need to wail in sadness fade for the moment.

"He feels weird now," Happy commented softly. "Like… not there, maybe?"

Lucy nodded. "I did it right, then. Now, for the other part." She glanced over at the doorway that left to the large corridor in time to see Virgo reappear.

The maid bowed low to her owner. "Everything is ready, Princess."

"Don't you have to wait until he's buried?" Happy asked.

Lucy shook her head. "It's not necessary." That said, she exited the room, leaving the little blue cat to stare after her.

* * *

Three new items aside from the reward.

Lucy's coinpurse jingled merrily with the heavy feeling of currency, easing the rent worry in her mind. However, Belo had left her a few other things – a book, a letter, and a new key that was unlike any of her others. The book was a practical guide to celestial magic. A brief skim showed her that it was a guide for using her various spirits in battle, even the ones that weren't particularly suited for it, and that it also had some spells that only celestial mages could use.

Setting the book aside, Lucy turned over the key in her hand, frowning at it. Perhaps the letter would spell out the what and why of it but she was always one to try to figure things out on her own first. The key resembled one of the silver gate keys but it was so much shinier, almost blindingly white in its appearance. The symbol on the head of the key, an S-curved creature that should have been of myth, was blaringly obvious; she knew the spirit belonging to this key before she even opened the letter.

Gate of the Dragon, Draco.

She slid the key into her leather pouch and not onto the keyring. She had a very strict personal policy to not adding the key to the ring until the contract was completed. That done, she picked up the letter, carefully breaking the wax seal with her fingernail. The thick white paper inside was scrawled with Belo's shaky but familiar scrawl and she couldn't help but smile as a tear finally leaked out of the corner of one eye.

_Little Lucy,_

_I sent the puzzle request to Fairy Tail just three days ago. I will send Minerva tomorrow. With it being Fairy Tail, there's no telling what kind of mage will accept the job. Perhaps I should have asked you directly but this way, there's no way you can deny the payment. Additionally, I have two items to give you which must now be in your possession._

_First, about the book… I am well aware of what kind of guild Fairy Tail is. Given their tendency toward destruction, intentional or not, I know that they accept quite a few battle-oriented missions. Many of your spirits are not meant to be used in this fashion but that doesn't mean they can't be. This guide also includes many spells for your magic type in the case where your spirits might be unhelpful or if you do not have enough power to summon and keep a spirit in the physical world._

_Now, the key. Interesting, isn't it? I've had it for almost fifty years, waiting for the right person. It is called a platinum gate key and only two others exist in this entire world. Given that your partner is Salamander of Fairy Tail – yes, I heard the rumors – I felt that this was kismet, a sign that you are the one to have it. I must warn you that the platinum keys can be quite draining and that you may want to summon Draco himself in a large open area. If he is anything like the dragons of old, he will be quite massive._

_A few more things: Believe in yourself. With your mother's principles and your father's determination, you will become the best. Forgive your father. Much of what he has done has been in some way because he loves you and it's all in the past. Follow your heart. No matter how it may seem, your heart will never lead you astray._

_Do well and be good. Reach for the stars, always._

_Belo Remus_

Lucy's breath hitched slightly but it did not wake the softly snoring Exceed in the seat next to her. Folding her mentor's last letter back into the envelope, she pressed her forehead against the glass of the window, staring at the quickly passing scenery. He had always known the right thing to say and she always took it all to heart.

Moments later, her eyes drifted closed, the exhaustion finally stealing her away into sleep. What she didn't know when she allowed herself that luxury was that it would be some time before she woke again and losing consciousness this time would be anything but restful.


	5. An Inner Battle

**A/N: I just wanted to say thanks again for all the reviews. They make me happy in my chest and my brain. Anyhoo, also, forewarning: Starting from the end of this week for three weeks, updates might be coming less often. My husband and I are going to be moving across the country and then going on a vacation in our hometown, which has less than optimal internet access. However, I will still be writing, so no worries! Read and review!**

* * *

He had had no form for many decades, wrapping so completely in that blasted spell that he had forgotten what having a physical form felt like. Born of chaos and flame, Erebus had always thought himself to be invincible. Oh, sure, he'd been sealed into this staff and that cudgel over the millennia but it wasn't until that damnable wizard had discovered and trapped him that he'd felt what it was like to lose bits of himself.

Of course, that blasted curse had been well thought out. The only recourse the demon had once trapped in the manor was to entangle his very essence into the center of the curse, down deep where no mage could find him. Because of this, his body wore away quickly and much of his personality and soul – if it could be said that demons even have souls – along with it, dissipated inside of fifty human years. If not for some twist of fate, even the mention of his presence would have been lost to time.

Well, he would have been if not for the sweet blond thing he now inhabited.

He slipped through the darkness where he had hidden himself in her dread and despair. Earlier, she could feel her pull on those negative emotions, nearly revealing his presence, but it had passed. Now, he merely needed to access her center. Once he found that, he would have no problem taking control of her body.

Finally, he escaped the darkness and approached a central area of golden light, the core of the girl's essence. Grinning, he stepped into the light, reveling in the thought of a new body, of the darkness and destruction he would rain on those that had not seen his ilk for far too long.

"Who are you?"

The voice reverberated around him, echoing strangely in ears that didn't actually exist. Inside the voice was the sound of music chimes, the wind of a soft summer breeze, and warmth that no demon could know. The golden light that had once been a sphere now collected and compressed down into the image of the girl, her blond hair floating freely and her brown eyes sparkling with the light of thousands of stars, stars that he had not seen for almost two hundred years.

"I am the demon Erebus. I have come to claim your essence as my own." He didn't see any harm in telling her of his intentions. In no time at all, she would know nothing at all.

Her eyes sparked dangerously, revealing determination well-hidden by her external appearance. "You want my body?" Her arms and legs shifted until she was in a battle stance. "I will not let you."

The demon grinned, liking her spirit despite her impending death. There was nothing wrong in having a bit of fun before he destroyed everything this girl held dear.

* * *

Outside the battle landscape within Lucy's body, Happy struggled silently to carry both the mage herself and the book that her deceased mentor had left to her. Even though he often teased her about being too heavy to carry, the truth was that Natsu was almost twice her weight, what with all of his musculature. However, he hadn't expected the book to be quite so heavy. Thus, the struggling.

He looked down at the large tome in his tiny hands, debating on whether he should just drop it in the street in favor of returning for it later. He quickly tossed the idea aside at the thought of Lucy's reaction – it was quite possible that such an action would actually cause her to kill him. He knew very well how attached she could be to books and this would obviously be no exception.

When he finally reached the guild hall, the diminutive Exceed lowered both himself and the celestial mage his tail was wrapped around to the ground, the pain of exertion thrumming through every muscle, before releasing his wings. Now that he was down, however, he had the feeling that there was not much else he could do. His body was demanding rest of any kind but his mind was screaming for aid.

Weak paws pressed at the wooden doors, moving them only very slightly. He mewled softly, one of the few cat-like sounds he actually made, and felt big tears roll down his cheeks. Was it just the pain that caused the crying or was it something else, something his brain didn't want to grasp?

However, when the doors opened wide, Happy nearly collapsed in relief. He looked up and saw the face of Pantherlily, the black Exceed. "Help," he pleaded softly.

Transforming instantly into his bigger, muscled form, Pantherlily scooped both Happy and Lucy into his arms. Envisioning the Scary Lucy from Edolas and remembering how she and the real Lucy weren't really all that dissimilar, the blue cat clung to the book with his last vestiges of energy. "What happened?" the man-cat asked in concern.

Happy's lips trembled slightly, looking over at the blonde that had yet to return to consciousness. "She won't wake up. We were coming back from the job she took and I tried everything I could think of but she won't wake up."

Lily looked down at the bundle in his arms, frowning in confusion. "What should I do, then?"

"Take her to the infirmary," a voice said from behind the large Exceed.

Pantherlily half-turned to look at whoever it was that was addressing him. "Who are you?" He obviously didn't recognize the man with spiky dark blond hair dressed in a dark suit.

But Happy did. "Loke! Lucy won't wake up!"

The celestial spirit inclined his head. "I know. I'm not sure what going on but it's bad. We need the Master."

* * *

Lucy slid across the dark expanse, the light of her being warring with this… thing's inky blackness. She was reeling slightly from the hit it had landed on her face, feeling a phantom sense of blood in her mouth. As soon as she reminded herself that this was all in her head and not actually occurring in the physical world, the sensation of blood filling her mouth dissipated.

She smirked slightly to herself. Well, that answered one question. She could control at least some manner of things here.

Maybe she could really do this. She knew that the dark demon Erebus was a manifestation of exactly what Belo had been afraid of. There had been no way of knowing that the demon himself was still alive, in one way or another, though. This situation was remarkably unexpected but recent months with Fairy Tail – and Natsu, specifically – had gotten her to the point that the surprise, impending danger included, made her feel more energetic rather than frozen in fear.

_I'm all fired up,_ she thought to herself with a heavy dose of amusement.

"Humans, you're all the same." Lucy looked up at the form of the demon before having to look away again. It was all negative energy, literally. Looking into its face was like looking into a black hole – her mind tried to focus on its face and wanted damn well to be successful at it but she just couldn't manage it. Something about the demon was just too… incomprehensible. "Fight the enemy, persevere – it's all so predictable." A shadowy foot connected with her side, renewing the feeling of blood. She decided not to force the sensation away this time, knowing her concentration would be more useful in other venues. Like figuring out how to banish the demon from her body. "Shouldn't you know how to lay down and die by now?"

Lucy scoffed, the laugh hollow and mocking. " 'Lay down and die'? That really doesn't sound like chaos to me. That curse must have done a number on what you're supposed to be." She stood on shaky legs, the idea of which was something of a conundrum – it wasn't as if she was physically taxing herself here, right?

A beat of silence passed, followed by the sense of an indignant roar. "You are but a snippet of a human female. What would you know of chaos demons?" But Lucy could see the change. Whatever sense she had here saw the slip, saw the new chink in the armor that kept the demon tied to her.

"Oh, I don't know." Lucy gave the impression of turning her back on Erebus, relaying to him the obvious idea that he had suddenly become insignificant. If there was anything she could do better than anyone else in the guild, it was the dance of words and posturing. However, she often buried this talent alongside her skills for dancing, tea ceremony, and formal etiquette; these things all belonged in the box with memories of her father. "Maybe that old mage guy was wrong. Maybe you're really just one of Zeref's demons."

The bellow that met her ears this time caused her to grin ear to ear, relieved that the creature was unable to see the expression. However, there was the matter of the golden light that currently infused her brightening with the emotion. "That pitiful mage could never even comprehend a true demon!"

"I am well aware of that." Finally, she twisted her noncorporeal body just the slightest bit to look back at the demon. She could look at its face now; there wasn't the sickening, gut-twisting feeling of dread that kept her flicking her gaze away. If she was right, he was fading away. Whether it was the result of her insults or the fact that he still had yet to take her body, she could keep going for a while yet. "As a matter of fact, it only took three wizards working in tandem to take one down." He didn't need to know that those three wizards were three of the strongest wizards she knew and getting stronger all the time.

The demon's face curled into a malicious grin, the 'I told you so' inherent in the expression. "Pitiful," he repeated.

"Still," Lucy continued as if the demon's comment had made no impact on her opinion. "It only took a single mage and a few years to leave you a shadow of yourself."

"Fifty years," the demon corrected snappishly. In a way, its voice had sounded quite human in its irritation, offended by the mere words of a mortal female.

"Fifty?" Lucy scoffed, sure to inject the most stinging disdain she had ever heard spill from her own father's lips. "And here Belo's ancestor thought it would be at least a hundred."

As if it was a final fatal blow, some of the golden light that suffused her body separated from her limbs and dove straight into the inky darkness that was the demon. It filled up the black, creating new cracks that threatened more with each passing instant to shatter the chaos demon. Lucy's golden brown eyes widened considerably, watching with disbelief and shock. How was this happening?

"You're a mage!" Erebus accused in a distorted and angry voice.

Lucy shrugged, knowing this much about herself already. "So what? It was just words."

"Words are power for wizards," it declared, apparently agitated that she didn't know this herself. "Your conviction, such as it is, is your strength." With that, it shattered apart into a million pinpricks of light, forcing her to look away.

When the flash finally faded, Lucy realized with some apprehension all the light was fading until she could see nothing at all.

* * *

Natsu sat in the infirmary, staring at his teammate in concern. She had been lying there, silent as the grave and completely unmoving, for close to three hours since she had returned with Happy. Normally, he would have been all curious about where they'd been but this particular situation only called for one emotion: worry.

"Lucy," Happy whined softly, butting his blue head gently against Lucy's still hand.

Worry was absolutely the one thing in the world the Dragon Slayer couldn't deal with. After all, he couldn't exactly force her awake, though he had certainly tried when Loke and his very watchful eyes had finally disappeared back to the spirit world. Besides that, whatever was wrong with his blond friend couldn't be seen and as a result could not be fought with Dragon Slayer Magic.

Just then, Lucy took a deep shuddering breath and opened her eyes. Hissing at some pain that he wasn't aware of, she squinted her eyes and looked around, finally pinning her eyes on the Exceed in her lap. "What happened?"

"You wouldn't wake up!" Happy wailed, jumping to bury his crying eyes in her chest.

Her lips curled into a soft smile and Natsu echoed the expression immediately, thankful for his teammate's wakefulness. "Lucy, what happened?" He winced slightly at the pleading note in his voice.

"I took a solo mission," she started, her eyebrow arched at his tone.

He stood immediately, his body still riding on the ache of thinking she'd never wake up again, of thinking she was pretty much dead. "You went on a job by yourself? This happened because I wasn't there to protect you!" He couldn't tell if he was scared of what could have happened or if he was accusing her for leaving him behind. Because it came down to that, didn't it? She'd been gone and he hadn't even noticed and he wanted to kick himself for that kind of disregard.

She narrowed her eyes at him but he had no clue what thoughts were running through her mind. "You shouldn't have to protect me. Besides," she continued, flicking her eyes away and breaking visual contact with him, "Lisanna's back and you don't have to team with me anymore. I'm sure she's much more useful anyway."

Natsu frowned, confused by the blonde's reasoning. "What are you talking about?"

Lucy sniffed softly and looked at him again. "I heard you talking about teaming up with her again. You obviously don't need me."

"I meant, you and me and Happy and Lisanna and Mira and Elfman. We could take a really big job that way." He stopped then, finally realizing exactly what it is that Lucy meant. She thought he would really toss her aside like that as if she was nothing? What could cause her to even think that? Whatever it was, it didn't matter; he needed to be clear enough that she wouldn't misunderstand. "Lucy, before I met you, my only partner was Happy. You'll always be part of my team, no matter what."

Lucy grinned then, the expression two parts relieved and one part embarrassed. "Oh." Suddenly, her eyes flicked past him and he turned to see what she was looking at. The Master had returned with his healer friend that lived in the woods, Porlyusica. "Oh, crap," she murmured softly.

Looking into the elderly woman's annoyed gaze, Natsu felt he could echo the sentiment.


	6. Exposition and a Discovery

Lucy sighed in relief when Porlyusica's hard gaze shifted to the Master. Despite never having seen her before now, the blonde could see why people steered clear of her most of the time. It was well known throughout the guild that you didn't seek the healer's help unless it was dire or Makarov felt that it was worth the risk. Apparently, she realized somewhat belatedly, her condition had been deemed serious enough to bring the older woman into the city limits of Magnolia, her hatred of people be damned.

"You said there was something wrong with her," the pink-haired woman accused of the Master in a gravelly monotone.

"There is," Makarov insisted. "Or… there was." He looked up at the blond mage still on the infirmary bed, his face somewhat pleading. "Lucy?"

Lucy's brown eyes widened considerably, not knowing where to begin and frozen in the face of this formidable woman. However, said woman took the option away from her as she stepped further into the infirmary. "You have a demon taint," she said now, turning her accusatory tone to the celestial mage herself.

"Yes, well, about that…" Lucy paused, the silence drawing out as she tried to figure out what to say. "I did something but I don't know what."

"Start from the beginning," Porlyusica instructed, moving forward to inspect her new patient. With a single movement, she shoved Natsu out of the way while simultaneously forcing the blue Exceed into the Dragon Slayer's hands. "Go away," she instructed him firmly.

Natsu shook his head vehemently, his pink hair swayed erratically with the gesture. "No. She's my partner. I'm not leaving."

The elderly woman cast a withering gaze at Makarov, who immediately withered enough to suit her. "Your 'children' are quite insubordinate." With a single, almost unnoticed quirk of her lips, she finally turned back to Lucy.

"Well, okay, I took a solo job request in Kunugi last night. The Master thought I might need a partner but I told him I was fine."

Natsu shifted his gaze over to Makarov. "Why did you think that?"

The short man shrugged, his eyes dark with worry. Especially now that Lucy's return from the mission had left her unconscious for hours. That couldn't have meant anything good. And a demon taint? He shuddered slightly. "All I knew of the client was that it was an unaffiliated mage. It's odd enough for a wizard to request a job from a guild but it's even worse when you think of how many encounters with dark guilds we've had recently."

Eyes wide in alarm, the Fire Dragon Slayer shifted his gaze back to his partner. "It was a dark mage?"

Lucy immediately broke into a peal of giggles, the force of them so strong that she snorted through her nose at one point in an effort to breathe. The sound was so encompassing that even Porlyusica smiled for a second before she composed her face back to blankness. "No, no," the blonde managed finally when her laughter faded. "I mean, he's unaffiliated now, I guess. He probably hasn't paid guild fees in years but he used to be part of Blue Pegasus. His name was Belo Remus."

"Belo?" Porlyusica and Makarov echoed simultaneously. In response to such synchronicity, the woman glared at the little man while the Master granted her a wolfish grin.

"He was my magic teacher after Mom died. He even helped me find Taurus."

"Past tense," Makarov said softly. He looked up at the girl with large eyes. "You keep using the past tense when you talk about him."

Lucy turned her head away from the Master, gazing at her hands as she clenched them in her lap. "He died last night," she said softly, her voice quivering slightly at the words. At the pain in her voice, Happy struggled in Natsu's hands to free himself in order to try to make their partner feel better. However, keeping in mind the elderly healer's hard gaze, the wizard merely tightened his grip on the Exceed.

"How?" the Master asked.

The celestial mage closed her eyes and pushed her sorrow away yet again. It was still not time to grieve. "I'll get to that," she said when she finally opened her eyes again, feeling her emotions were steady enough to continue. "The puzzle was actually a curse on Belo's bloodline and the request itself was meant for me. He wanted me there to do this."

"Why?" Natsu asked suddenly, wanting to know why exactly Lucy had had to be the one.

"He had some things for me," she answered simply. "The curse was part of a multilayered spell put in place about two hundred years ago. Belo wanted me there to break the curse before his granddaughter could find it and to perform the Final Rite afterward."

"The Final Rite?" Makarov exclaimed in disbelief immediately. Porlyusica immediately pinned him with a harsh glare but he still continued. "That's a seal!"

Lucy's face twisted into a picture of distaste, though none of them knew it was more directed at herself than at them. "It's the only sealing magic I know. Belo taught it to me. He said knowing anything more complex than that would hurt my celestial magic."

Porlyusica nodded, seemingly agreeing with the statement. "Go on," she commanded.

"Okay, the curse itself was designed to slowly eradicate a chaos demon that Belo's ancestor had accidentally released. He trapped it in the manor and then bound half of the power of his bloodline in the spell to destroy the demon. It was really effective but there were some problems." Lucy looked up at the healer, who nodded very slightly to get her to continue. "First of all, no member of the Remus family could see it more than once. It seems that once they laid their eyes on it, it became invisible to them. Secondly, the curse needed to be undone but no one knew what happened or even why the curse was in place."

"How did you find out?" Natsu asked, his brow creased curiously as he tried to figure out this particular conundrum.

"At the center of the spell was an altar that held a journal. The ancestor that created the curse was a bit of a researcher, so he wrote everything down. It was a big help. I ended the curse and Belo died."

"It had been keeping him alive," Porlyusica said softly, as if it was a connection she was making to herself and had nothing to do with the others in the room. "And the demon?"

Lucy pressed her lips together and her gaze shifted to just above the pink-haired woman's left shoulder. "It should have been long dead. That spell was very old and very powerful. I'd have to guess that it managed to hide the essence of itself in the curse. It must have latched on to me when I released the spell."

"It was trying to possess you?" the older woman asked gently. This was the part of the conversation that she hadn't wanted any of the others present for. She knew very well her old friend's propensity for overreaction and it seemed that he had passed the particular habit on to most of his so-called children.

"What!?" Natsu, Happy, and Makarov exclaimed in distressed stereo.

Both Porlyusica and Lucy opted to ignore them, though the blonde did attempt to send her teammate an encouraging smile. "That's what he said."

"You spoke with the demon?" As if the idea itself was nothing more than an interesting idea to research, the pinched expression fell from the healer's face and she sat gently on the edge of the bed. The result was that Porlyusica looked at Lucy with an open and almost friendly countenance.

_So, that's what she's really like,_ Lucy thought idly to herself before nodding. "I got the feeling that he was really weak. He should have been able to take me immediately, right? I'm pretty weak."

"Lucy…" Natsu started, the irritation at how his partner constantly put down her own abilities showing through in his voice. However, he almost immediately faded off at the sharp gaze that turned on him at the interruption. "Gomen," he murmured softly, burying the lower half of his face in Happy's fur.

"I'm not a shield," the small Exceed retorted, though his wide eyes clearly revealed that he was equally afraid of Porlyusica.

Lucy held back the urge to laugh at the brief interaction. Such a reaction might make the other woman just a bit more irritated than she'd like at the moment. She decided it would probably be in her best interest to continue the conversation. "Anyway, I kind of insulted him to death. I think. You know, I'm not really sure what happened."

"What _did_ happen?"

"Well, I was covered in this golden light and it sort of… leaped out and enveloped him. And then I woke up."

Porlyusica stared back at the blond mage, her dark eyes wide and searching. Then, slowly, she turned to face the Master. "Macky, do you think…?"

Makarov looked up at the young mage, his eyes managing to seem keen and disbelieving all at the same time. "Hibiki had said Lucy is much more powerful than we have been giving her credit for." He tilted his head but finally shook his head to the negative. "Even so, to create a spirit like that, she would need to be in possession of… that."

Porlyusica nodded, almost disappointed at the information. "It seemed to be the most likely answer but I supposed you're right. Having _that_ is extremely rare."

"What?" Natsu asked suddenly, his attention piqued at the information that the older man and woman were obviously trying to keep quiet. "What's 'that'?"

"A platinum gate key," Lucy answered quietly, casting a sidelong glance at her pouch of celestial spirit keys. Then, as if someone flipped a switch in her brain, she realized the full extent of their conversation. "Wait, are you saying I turned Erebus into a celestial spirit?"

The pink-haired woman's lips curled into a knowing smile. "The demon gave her its name, Makarov," she said, as if it was the final proof.

However, the Master pinned her with a curious look. "What do you know about platinum keys?"

Lucy shrugged. "Not much. There are three in the entire world and Belo just gave me one – or, well, left it to me would be more accurate. If I'm right, they're extremely powerful spirits."

The old man's eyes widened comically and he swayed slightly, looking unsteady on his feet. "Which one?" he asked.

The blonde immediately leaned over, reaching for her keys. When the distance made her unsteady, the stretch of her arm almost pulling her to the floor, Natsu moved forward to return her balance and Happy took the opportunity to grab her keys for her. "Thanks, guys," she murmured, blushing slightly in gratitude and embarrassment at the need for their help. Opening the pouch, she pulled out her new key and showed it to the healer.

Handling the key very carefully, Porlyusica examined the glyph etched into the head. "It's Draco," she told the Master.

At this, Natsu perked up substantially. "Draco? It's a dragon. Is it a dragon?" he asked Lucy excitedly. Rolling her eyes, she granted him a smile and a shallow nod. At the affirmative response, he grinned at Happy. "It's a dragon!"

"A black key," Lucy murmured softly to herself, lifting an additional key out of the pouch. As her words had denoted, the gate key itself was a deep obsidian, the notches at the end of the key spindly and dangerous-looking. At the head of the key, where she could often find the glyphs that hinted at the spirit attached to a single key, there was an etched symbol: an exploded starburst. While she certainly wasn't clear on what that was supposed to mean, a part of her automatically knew that it indicated Erebus's inherent chaos magic.

When Porlyusica held out her hand, Lucy immediately placed the demonic key in the woman's hand. The healer inspected them both close to her eyes, one reflecting light everywhere and the other seeming to almost repel the light that would come near it. "I have no information on this phenomenon," she told the Master, her tone indicating that the idea of not knowing something disturbed her greatly.

"Master Bob," Makarov said immediately. "Blue Pegasus has had more celestial wizards belong to it since its infancy than any other guild, official or otherwise. Between the guild records and his personal knowledge, he should be able to help Lucy with this transition."

Natsu shuddered slightly. "Master Bob?" he asked plaintively.

The Master merely nodded and the healer stood, handing the contradictive keys back to their owner. Without another word, Porlyusica swept out of the room. After looking at his celestial mage for half a second, Makarov's eyes widened and he called the woman's name again. "What about Lucy?"

"She's fine," the elderly woman called over her shoulder, not breaking her stride in the least. "She just needs rest." Moments later, the front doors of the guild slammed shut, bringing a tone of finality to the statement.

"Well, that's good." Lucy shifted around on the bed until she was essentially sitting on the edge of the bed.

The Master cast a sideways glance at her. "I would recommend calling the dragon before the demon, Lucy. Just in case."

Lucy nodded gravely, instantly seeing the wisdom in the recommendation. "Sure thing. If I'm just a little wobbly, I could just go call him now."

Natsu looked at his partner with uncontainable excitement, his dark eyes glittering with the thought of seeing a real dragon for the first time in seven years. "Can I watch?"

She laughed and nodded. With a quick hop, she bounced off the bed and landed nimbly on her feet. Right before crumpling uselessly to the floor. The breath filtering abruptly out of her chest, she realized she could feel a familiar sensation in her center: little to no magic power.

"Maybe tomorrow, huh?" she murmured softly.

* * *

**A/N: Wow, an update. We're about halfway to our new home (cross-country travel sucketh!) and we happened to stay at a hotel w/ internet while my poor husband tries to catch up on sleep. Poor guy. Anyway, this chapter was kind of exposition-y with some revelations. Don't hate me for writing chapter that didn't really have much happen! I kind of liked the interactions. But no worries - I'm being productive during the trip and have already started the next chapter, in which we will meet Draco!**


	7. Meeting Draco

**A/N: This is a slightly shorter chapter than normal. I'm trying to get back into the groove of writing, something that's slightly difficult with my college having slightly increased my workload. Oh, well. Hope everyone enjoys this!**

* * *

It was just past dawn when Natsu lifted the window situated right next to Lucy's bed. He had helped her get home the night before after they had realized that however she had done whatever it was she'd done to that demon had drained her pretty completely. The Master had suggested that she stay in the infirmary but she had insisted on returning home.

Something about her novel, maybe?

With the window frame clear, the Dragon Slayer leaped with a preternatural grace that he had had for nearly his entire life and landed perfectly on the windowsill, a sleepy Happy clinging weakly to his upper arm. However, that same grace abandoned him soon after, resulting in him collapsing rather suddenly on his blond partner's legs, his flailing arms wrapping around her blanket-covered waist in a panic.

Lucy's reaction was immediate, even though this was not the first time she had woken up in this particular fashion. "Gaah!" she shrieked, sitting up in time with her forced waking. Because it only took a brief moment for her vision to clear, she was quick to beset the offender with a honey-brown glare. "Natsu!"

He grinned up at her and shrugged, the gesture both infectious and slightly sheepish. Taking some time to disentangle himself from the blonde, he rolled off the bed and landed nimbly on his feet. His lips stretching into an even broader smile, he walked toward the kitchen area to leave her privacy enough to change.

"Lucy," Happy whined in a muffled murmur. "Make Natsu go back to sleep."

Shaking her head at the entire situation, Lucy wriggled out of her bedding and grabbed clothing for the day, disappearing behind the privacy curtain that separated her bathroom from the rest of the house. It was obvious that there would be no dissuading Natsu, not that she would want to… but it was kind of early. With an amused snort, she realized that it was quite possible that he'd never gotten to sleep at all.

Dressed in a tee and skirt, Lucy erupted from the bathroom, feeling more refreshed than such an awakening should have given her an excuse to be. The sight that greeted her caused her to grin as she moved across the room to clip her key pouch and whip to her slanted belt.

Natsu had evidently found the stash of raw fish that she kept in a magical preservation box for Happy. (In fact, she'd stuck a sticker of a cat on the front to remind herself exactly what the box was for.) He was crouched in front of the Exceed, who was now on the floor, and slowly drawing him forward with the lure of fish. For his part, Happy was doing something of a zombie walk in time with Natsu, his eyes half-closed with the lethargy that still held him.

"I'm ready," Lucy informed them, making the pink-haired mage pause just long enough for Happy to sleepily snatch the traveling fish away from his friend. "Let's go."

"Go?" Natsu echoed uncertainly. "I thought you'd just call him here."

"In my house!?" she screeched in disbelief. She shook her head vehemently. "It's a dragon, Natsu!"

"So?"

"So, it'll be much bigger than this house. Well, okay, I've never actually seen a dragon but I'm sure they're pretty massive."

The Dragon Slayer immediately blushed in embarrassment. "Right. Where are we going, then?"

* * *

Lucy led Natsu and Happy to the edge of Magnolia, the cold and slow walk working magnificently to wake the blue Exceed. By the time they reached an area she approved, Happy was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, just as excited as the Dragon Slayer that served as his perch. They stopped a few paces behind Lucy, giving her the room necessary for the raw summoning.

_A dragon,_ the blonde thought to herself. _And not just any dragon. Draco, the spirit of dragons. I wonder what he's like._

Centering herself with a solid breath, Lucy took the familiar pose and pointed her new key toward the horizon. The words flowed from her lips easily with the comfort of an old friend. "I am linked to the path to the world of the spirits now! O spirit, answer my call and pass through the gate! Gate of the Dragon, Draco!" The key shone with unbearable brightness and the world exploded with light. As Draco materialized before the trio, Lucy could only feel the sensation of a thick thread of energy escaping her body.

This spirit was very powerful.

Trying to pull precious air into a chest that felt too empty, Lucy doubled over, placing her hands on slightly bent legs. Closing her eyes to fight past the slight nausea and vertigo that she experienced during massive energy loss, the celestial mage forced herself to a standing position and looked at the massive form before her.

Her first impression was that Draco was golden. Closer inspection revealed that the dragon was indeed of the gold persuasion, its hide a deep yellow that shimmered in the early sunlight. Its eyes that were as large as Lucy was tall were as black as shining obsidian and its sharp teeth gleamed with the white of bleached bone as it bestowed something similar to a grin on the celestial mage.

"Lucky Lucy," the dragon greeted with a nonchalant use of the nickname that the wizard hated. "I should have known you would be the one to call me."

Though her ire had sparked at the sound of her old nickname, confusion immediately smothered the emotion. "You should have?" she queried softly.

"Lucy Heartfilia, the only mage the Spirit King knows by name. It was to be expected that you would find a platinum key." Though he had been standing at his full (and fully terrifying) height, he chose that moment to drop his limbs and crane his neck so that his eyes were at her level. "Though I have not had reason to look on this world in some seven years, I believe I am correct in the assumption that I remain the only key to be unearthed."

Lucy stared into the massive onyx eyes, swearing that she'd heard a question in those words. "I wouldn't know," she answered after a moment. Clearing her throat and feeling slightly off-balance, the blonde whipped out the notepad that contained the pertinent details on her spirits' contracts. "About the contract," she started.

"Never worry about that," the dragon interrupted immediately. "I never cared for all those rigid rules anyway. You can call me anytime. I would just ask that you refrain from using me to battle."

Lucy took in the massive size of the golden dragon in front of her and blinked dumbly. This creature would give any mage she'd ever met the complete and total smackdown. "Why?"

Draco chuckled, the very sound causing a rumble in the ground underneath the mage's feet. "I imagine you wouldn't call me first. It is not a good strategy to show off your most powerful weapon immediately and Leo assures me that you are a bit of a strategist."

Lucy blushed slightly at the compliment. No one ever really noticed her enough to comment on her good qualities, at least never in a nice way. "No, you're right," she mumbled softly.

"Well." The dragon paused to place one clawed appendage over the other and rest his jawline at the apex, looking very much like a human resting his chin on folded hands. "I imagine the very act of calling me may very well kill you." Onyx unblinking eyes bore down on her. "You must have noticed the drain."

Lucy nodded. "I did."

"The dragons," Natsu blurted out suddenly. Lucy cast a glance over her shoulder and idly noted that her partner's face was an odd shade of purple. Had he been holding his breath in an attempt to not interrupt them? "You're a dragon. Where'd they all go?"

Finally, the massive pools of black turned their scrutiny away from her and to the pink-haired Dragon Slayer in the distance. "You're Igneel's apprentice?" Lucy heard the way Draco lilted his voice as if it was a question but she could also hear how much of a question it wasn't.

Natsu nodded and took a few steps to stand beside Lucy. The blond mage could feel his weirdly overgenerated heat from the space that separated them, soothing the confusion that still wandered in her brain, but waited patiently for this conversation to end. She had a vague prickly feeling that her friend was not going to get the answer that he wanted.

"Yeah. I'm Natsu. Dragneel," he added softly after a moment, easily meeting Draco's onyx stare.

"I can't help you, Natsu Dragneel." The dragon shifted his gaze back to Lucy for a brief second, who saw something akin to regret in those orbs, and then straightened himself to his full height. "I apologize."

"What do you mean, you can't help me?" Natsu exclaimed, his eyes burning with confused fury and his legs automatically taking him right up to the body of the dragon spirit. "You're the first real dragon I've seen in seven years. You've gotta know where they are."

The dragon's head tilted away, looking into the periwinkle blue of the early morning sky. "I cannot help _you_," he repeated, stressing the last word softly. After a moment, he sighed a massive dragon sigh and turned back to his owner. "Do you have another question, Lucy?"

For a brief moment, the blonde's thoughts turned to the spiky black key lounging in her key pouch but immediately turned away. Master Bob would be in Magnolia soon and she had to admit that she was still quite afraid of the huge beast that towered over her. "No, not right now."

The massive, obsidian orbs that were the dragon's eyes peered down at her, obviously disappointed by her response. "Very well. If you need something of me, call at any time." With that said, Draco disappeared, leaving nothing more than a draconic imprint in the dirt in his wake.

Sighing at the pleasant feeling of her magic reserves restoring, Lucy turned and took a step toward the city when the little blue cat mewled pathetically. "Lucy…" Twisting her body to look back, she noticed that Natsu had yet to move. She frowned deeply when she noted that he was shaking, literally vibrating with emotion. Was it anger at Draco or sorrow, that deep sorrow that he had to be feeling for being unable to find his foster father yet again?

"Natsu…" Lucy murmured, her deep well of compassion overflowing at the sight of him attempting to contain himself.

She walked back to him and placed a hand on his shoulder, forcing him to look at her. The look on his face, so sad and lost, reminded her of a little girl she'd helped in that year between leaving the only home she'd ever known and finding her current guild. She was young, younger than Lucy herself had been when her mother died, and homeless. The blonde had shared space with her for a week, using her money to put some meat back on her bones, and then accompanied her to the home of her nearest relative. It would suffice to say that Lucy had always been soft for those that needed her.

Natsu was the one that needed her now. Every time that he was so close to figuring out what happened to Igneel and then ultimately failed again, it broke him a little bit more. She could see it in the same way that she could see that her stout refusal to accept an arranged marriage had likely been the thing to break her father's company. Now, she would take her partner home and force him to rest until he was able to talk.

That was her role.

Later, she could think about the things Draco had said and his emphasis on the fact that he couldn't help Natsu specifically. Later, she would draw the facts into a strict and recognizable line until it all made sense and she could move forward from there. But now… now, all that mattered was Natsu and his deep, deep sorrow.


	8. Enlisting A Demon

**A/N: Who missed me? I know I haven't posted a chapter in a while but here's a new one. Hope everyone likes it. Please R&R!**

* * *

Lucy hadn't slept the night before.

Sleep was always difficult to come by when she wasn't in her own bed but that deep sense of propriety that came with growing up as Lucky Lucy Heartfilia kept her from sleeping in the same space as Natsu. Instead, she had done some reading. Apparently, in lieu of his immediate arrival, Master Bob had sent a book, a tome of some sort, in the meantime.

Unlike the basic guide to battle and strategy that was the gift from Belo, this particular book was a history on the gate keys compiled by Master Bob himself. For the first few hours, she had been comparing the two. Some of Belo's book included some history and the tome Master Bob had sent did include some battle tactics, usually through their use in some historic battle. After she was done comparing the two, gleaning the facts that were similar between the two, she moved on to what Master Bob had indicated would be of interest to her.

The section on the platinum gate keys.

The history behind them was fantastical, very nearly something she would expect to find in her mother's old mythology tomes. According to legend, for the platinum keys seemed to predate any kind of written history, the three platinum keys were once a single entity, wielded by the gods themselves. Through some type of subterfuge, one bitter god trying to undermine the king of the gods, the single key somehow become unhinged, fragmenting into three separate but equally powerful entities. If the text was to be believed, Belo had given her the first, Draco. The two that remained were believed to be the celestial spirits of Phoenix the firebird and Hydra the seven-headed water serpent.

Two difficult-sounding spirits, to be sure.

At first, it was merely the three, attempting to hold dominion over the mortals while the gods waged their petty war. As time passed, they quickly realized that they needed more than themselves, especially because the war between the gods was affecting the mortals in unforeseen ways. These side effects were not expounded upon but Lucy was good at subtle and knew very well the darkness of man. The platinum keys decided to use a power that was hidden deep in their nature, one that could only be used in times of absolute need. It was then that they created the golden gate keys, powerful and battle-ready all of them.

The downside to such a use of their power was that they fell to the earth to be used at the will of the mortals that acquired them and knew how to access such power. In turn, over time, this led to the creation of the silver gate keys, weak but moderately useful celestial spirits often inadvertently created by the hapless mortals. The three platinum spirits knew that they would never be reunited as they once were, would never be quite whole ever again, and began to use what influence they did have to keep themselves hidden from the world.

Lucy sighed heavily, lifting her eyes from the aged paper in front of her. It was a lot of information to take in, if even half of it was actually true. And taking in account the turns her life had taken lately, it very well could be. But she wasn't entirely sure what to do with it. She was still half-afraid to call out Erebus to contract with him and some of the things that Draco had said were still nagging at her.

The dragon disappearance aside, the massive celestial spirit had said some things that seemed to be of importance, though her heavy magic drain had been screwing with her concentration at the time. He had made the as-of-yet unfound platinum gate keys seem very significant and he had been leading up to something with the talk of how to use him properly.

That was, before Natsu had interjected himself. However, she couldn't fault him.

Suddenly, a golden light began to fill the room, distracting Lucy from her introspection and the questions that wouldn't yield answers. At first, she looked to the window over her bed, thinking the sun was rising but it was still pitch dark over Magnolia, the only source of light the full moon high in the sky. Confused, she looked around for the source of the light.

She nearly jumped out of her skin when she noticed the tall pale man standing just a few meters away. He didn't move, didn't blink and it was beyond unnerving. Dressed in a tank top and loose pants that were both pale yellow, it took Lucy looking into his eyes to realize who he was. She would never forget those obsidian eyes.

"Draco," she exhaled softly.

"Miss Lucy," he responded in acknowledgement, bowing his head slightly. Grabbing a chair from the kitchen, he sat next to her. Flicking his eyes down at her books, he grinned slightly, showing teeth that resembled the sharp fangs of his true form too greatly. "I see you've been doing some reading."

Lucy blinked and immediately relaxed, somehow unnerved at her own ability to be at ease when the strange occurred. "Is it true?" she asked.

"Somewhat," he answered, lifting one shoulder in a half-hearted shrug. "Some things are incorrect."

"Like?"

"Well, I'm not sure how we came to be here. Gods warring far above the mortals? Seems a little overdone but it could very well be true. It's been so long."

"How long has it been?" Lucy asked gently.

"Five thousand years." He grinned again but the expression didn't seem to hold any mirth. "And the thing about never being able to connect again? Also not true."

"You've been reconnected with Phoenix and Hydra?"

"It happens." Again with the half-shrug. "Usually through no will of our own, though we each ache to be returned to our original form. The last time was… four hundred years ago." He paused, shifting his gaze to the side. "It was awful."

Lucy paused, her focus dimming as she tried to connect the dots together. However, having recently dealt with a situation where the name had specifically cropped up, she knew almost instantly to what the dragon spirit was referring. "Zeref?"

"The power, it drove him mad," Draco murmured, his jet black eyes sad in the memory. "He was very intelligent but he was weak, deep down in his soul. I think that is why he went in hiding when he finally came back to himself."

"Hiding? I thought Zeref was locked away, his power sealed or something."

"Yes, well, when he joined us together, it was in the middle of a war. A massive, bloody war. Our power managed to blast away his core personality for a time somehow, leaving him powerful and very cruel. When his mind returned, we had already gone, unhinging from each other again, but I did see him seal away his own power." Draco lifted his head to look at Lucy, his face painted in guilt. "It is our fault. It had been so long since our last conjoining that I hadn't the time to warn him."

Lucy shrugged, her expression gentle. "I can't see how that matters now. Zeref is long dead."

Draco frowned deeply. "He's not. I know that I turned away for many years but he was still alive then and it won't take me long to find him again. He was roaming the earth, hiding himself from the world."

Lucy jerked to her feet, her hand bumping her key pouch and causing the key ring and Erebus's key to spill out onto the table. "What!? That's impossible. No one can live that long."

"He'd delved into some very powerful magicks," the spirit told her distractedly. He reached out and picked up the spiky obsidian key. "You've made a key. A very powerful key, at that."

"It was an accident," Lucy mumbled. "I was being attacked by a demon. I guess, because I had you… instinct kicked in?"

"Interesting." He twirled the black key idly. "You haven't called it yet."

Lucy shifted nervously, feeling the eyes of the powerful spirit on her. "I'm afraid to. He did almost possess me."

Draco inclined his head, smiling very slightly. "Come. I know a safe place."

"But…" The blonde looked to her bed where Natsu and Happy still slept peacefully, as they had been for a while. "Natsu?"

"He'll be fine. Come."

* * *

Erebus was coated in darkness. This was not a new feeling for him. He thrived in darkness for centuries before that Remus fool has trapped him in that confounded puzzle and after that… Well, it would not understate to say that the basement of the Remus manor was quite damp and dreary.

_"He should be the Gate of Chaos, Erebus."_

_"You know him?"_

_"After you said his name, I recognized it instantly. You did well to trap him in a key. This demon was not created, as Zeref's were. I believe he was born."_

Erebus whirled around, trying to identify the voices. He could hear them clearly but he could sense nothing. Even this darkness seemed inky and opaque, which was very strange. The dark was always the best place to spread chaos, especially the skittering mortals that had spread across the world, but this darkness seemed to… dampen him somehow.

Suddenly, his dark world exploded, revealing a darkness he was familiar with. It was the dark of a starry night in the mountains, the silence and solitude a dead giveaway. His view was immediately drawn to the other beings there. The blonde he recognized immediately as the girl he had attempted to possess some time previously. She didn't have the same glow her inner self seemed to maintain but that was to be expected. The other was a man he didn't know or recognize but who managed somehow to cow Erebus himself.

The man was also blond, though his hair shone ever more brightly than the girl's in the bright moonlight. As the wind ruffled his loose clothing, he seemed unmindful of it, coated in power so massive that Erebus could feel himself losing his breath in the face of it. It was when he looked into his eyes, deep jet black orbs that reflected nothing back, that the demon realized that this man was not actually a man after all but something infinitely different.

"Oh, my God," Lucy said in a soft breath. "He's big." After a moment, she cast a sidelong glance at her companion. "You're doing something to him, aren't you?"

"I'm holding him. He is having… difficulties."

"Like?"

"He can't breathe, can't move. Judging from his face, he can barely think straight."

Lucy tilted her head slightly, reaching out with her magical senses. "I don't feel anything."

Draco chuckled dryly. "You have my key. You are immune."

"Well, that's good to know." She sighed, rubbing a spot on the center of her forehead. "You think maybe you should let up a little bit?"

"If you say so."

As soon as he felt that abominable pressure lift from him, Erebus took a deep breath. As soon as he was sure that he could breathe without problem, he leapt forward, immediately lunging for the blond girl. Perhaps if she was dead…

He was stopped hard by a barrier that literally bounced him back. Then, calmly as you please, the man stepped forward to block the demon's path to the mage. All the while, the girl clutched her chest in fear, breathing heavily and eyes bugged out.

"I thought you said it _might_ work!" Lucy shrieked. "I thought I was going to die!"

Draco scoffed. "He's running on pure rage like an impotent animal."

"Don't… underestimate… me," Erebus growled agitatedly, pushing the words out through the blinding pain in his chest.

The man clucked his tongue softly. "He'll need to be trained, I guess. And introduced to the Spirit King as well."

Lucy straightened the line of her body, tilting her head to look up at the sky in concentration. "What if I can't control him, after all?"

"Break the key. If you snap it in half, he'll disappear completely."

"Really?"

"You are his creator, after all. Since you created him as a celestial spirit, you have the power to destroy him."

Erebus stood to his legs, managing to tower over them again. While he didn't have the menace of several hundred feet of height that Zeref's demons did, he was still quite large. "What are you talking about? I am the demon Erebus. I cannot be destroyed!"

Draco took several steps forward before transforming easily into his original form, that of the golden dragon. "Is that so?" The pressure was once again on Erebus, forcing him to his knees. Despite how he fought against it, he seemed to be trapped in a kneeling posture similar to that of a vassal before his lord. "Miss Lucy tells me you were very nearly destroyed by a family curse that was designed specifically to kill you."

The demon attempted to inhale, dragging in precious wisps of air. "What are you?"

"I am Draco, the celestial spirit of the dragon. You are now Erebus, the celestial spirit of chaos, and are bound to Miss Lucy."

"I will not—"

Draco cut him off immediately. "You will and you will do it happily. Lucy Heartfilia is no Zeref. She is not weak. Besides—" At this pause, Draco grinned toothily. "—She is part of a highly battle-ready magic guild. I am sure you will find something to tear to shreds in her place."

"I'm not sure I like the sound of that," Lucy called out.

"I am aware," Draco drawled, curving his long neck to peer at the blond girl that still had yet to move. "I will take him to the Spirit World to improve both his training and attitude. If that is acceptable?" The last comment was said with a large dose of sarcasm.

Lucy stuck her tongue out at the dragon. "Sure thing." She shifted her focus, winking at the demon in question. "Have fun."


	9. The Invitation

For the second time in less than a week, Natsu woke on a soft pink cloud of comfort. Lucy's smell floated around him, making him think of her happy smile and the way she tilted her head and closed her eyes when she was really happy. Opening his eyes sluggishly, he slowly became aware of a small weight on his lap. The small area of warmth, the gentle vibrations of kittenish purring – Natsu didn't have to look to know that it was Happy.

The loud click of the door opening in the quiet house caught his attention immediately. Untangling himself from the blankets that adorned Lucy's bed, Natsu was free and at the door before it was even halfway open, ready to fireball the intruder into oblivion.

"Gah! Natsu! What the hell!" Lucy winced, her exhaustion clear in how the fire in Natsu's hands seemed overly bright and how crabby the sensitivity made her feel.

The fire immediately flickered, put out by the absence of Natsu's will. "Lucy? But I thought…" He glanced back into her room where her desk held open books but not her. "Where were you?"

She yawned, moving into her kitchen sluggishly. "Draco wanted me to call Erebus."

Natsu cringed visibly, though Lucy's back was to him and therefore didn't notice the emotional response. He was still very confused, which is part of why he had stayed asleep for so long. Every time he even thought about returning to consciousness, he could see Draco's ebony eyes looking into his, declaring that he couldn't help him. He didn't understand it and he wanted to ask Lucy to explain to him but she looked so… tired. So very tired.

Then, his mind suddenly registered what it was she'd said. "You mean, the demon that attacked you?"

She nodded vaguely and handed him an open can. They had gone through this several times until Natsu did what she asked without needing to ask. He heated up with the can with the smallest flame he could make, orange fire floating between his hands and the can. In fact, Lucy had it down to a science but she looked tired enough that Natsu automatically stopped when the soup in the can began to bubble.

When had she last slept?

Using a nearby cloth to shield herself from the heat, Lucy poured the soup into a bowl and maneuvered slowly around her friend until she was sitting at her kitchen table, blowing gently at the steam that rose from the bowl. "He was huge," she started. "Not as big as that Lullaby demon or Deliora. Now that I think about it, he was just a little smaller than Draco."

Natsu sighed despondently. He had gone through this cycle enough times that the feeling was familiar. The feeling of failure weighed heavily on him, filling him full of sadness.

"Natsu?" Lucy ventured, her voice inviting.

The dragon slayer opened his mouth, ready to tell her everything in his head. It was something he had gotten used to, after all. It seemed like if he just emptied out his head to Lucy, she could always make sense of everything. She was very good at making him feel better, even more so than Lisanna had been. However, before a single word could leave his mouth, the scent of her exhaustion stopped him.

Turning on a one-eighty in his mind, he decided instead to focus on Lucy, something he rarely did when she was uninjured. She was unnaturally skilled at forcing others to look at her when she felt it was needed, something he knew deep down had to do with her lonely childhood that she refused to talk about. But ever since Edolas, she hadn't done that once, not a single time. He had thought that his insistence about the dynamics of their team would have done the trick, making her return to her normal Lucy-ness, but she still seemed to be retreating.

But from what? Why?

It would not understate to say that Natsu didn't get it. He pursued everything he did with everything there was in him. There was no other way for him to be. It was how Igneel had taught him to live, which was probably why he was chasing after ghosts and whispers of dragons seven years later. But Lucy… Lucy was different in ways that he didn't think he'd ever understand. She was so different that he couldn't even form the questions in his head as to how to figure her out.

Apparently, he took so long thinking that he barely noticed her lose interest and then consciousness. Her eyes closed slowly and her head wobbled before making a slow descent down to her arm. He smiled gently at his friend. With little to no thought at all, he stood and picked her up, the smile broadening with the sleeping girl automatically burrowed into his warm chest.

As soon as he settled her on the pink comforter, Happy jerked awake, his sudden wakefulness a marked difference from the sluggish lethargy early that morning. "Natsu, what…?"

The dragon slayer immediately held a finger up to his lips. "Shh. Lucy just got to sleep."

"Oh…" the Exceed replied silently. With an unusually lithe movement, Happy hopped over the girl and looked up at Natsu. "Are we going home?"

Natsu nodded idly when his eyes caught Lucy's calendar. One of the dates was firmly clanging in his head as important when memory finally struck. He looked down at his friend and then shook his head. "We're gonna go on a mission."

Happy frowned. "Without Lucy?"

Natsu frowned and then nodded. "The announcement should be in about a week."

"For the…?"

"Yep."

"Oh…" Happy activated his wings and flew over to Lucy's desk. "I'll leave a note."

The dragon slayer arched an eyebrow. "What for?"

The blue cat turned to face Natsu, one hand on his hip. "Lucy almost just went permanently solo because she thought _you_ were abandoning her. I'm not going to let her think that again."

Natsu harrumphed softly. "That's a good idea."

* * *

Lucy woke with the sunrise, glad that the golden light actually signified the next day rather than the arrival of her most powerful spirit. As she yawned, she idly wondered how the training of the demon Erebus was going and what exactly it consisted of. Of course, Draco would tell her about it if there was ever a need.

Untangling herself from the blanket that had somehow managed to wrap around her body pretty completely, she stretched the kinks out of her muscles and was about to turn to the bathroom when she noticed a white sheet of paper laid out pretty strategically across the books that she had left open the night before. Her forehead crinkling slightly, she walked swiftly over to her desk and read the note.

_Lucy,_

_We went on a mission. It's for S-Class Exams. Ask Erza about it._

_Natsu & Happy_

Next to Happy's name was a paw print in black ink. Arching an eyebrow at the brief explanation, Lucy smiled gently at the courtesy. It wasn't like she was going to fade at their disappearance but it was nice to know that they cared. After folding and placing the letter in the box that contained the letters to her mother, she spun around and marched into her bathroom.

It was time to get ready to face the day.

Twenty minutes found Lucy opening her door, dressed in her normal tank top and skirt with her keys attached to her cinched lopsided belt. She had pulled her hair into a low ponytail, little wisps of her low bangs framing her face. She had a small white envelope in her hand, containing that month's rent. Her landlady had this thing about communicating as little as possible, so she often mailed the rent to her.

The landlady could be kind of… scary and intimidating, despite her short stature.

Slipping the envelope into the mail slot for outgoing mail, Lucy then sidestepped to check if that day's mail had come. She wasn't really expecting anything but it was just another part of her daily ritual. She was very surprised to find a slightly overstuffed envelope staring back at her.

Arching an eyebrow, she picked it up gingerly and looked at the sender's name. "Jude Heartfilia," she murmured softly. "Dad?" She turned the envelope over and noticed that it was stamped with a wax seal, a heart incased in a type of wing insignia. _That must be Love & Lucky's guild mark,_ Lucy thought to herself.

Deciding that she didn't want to read whatever this was out in the open, Lucy gripped the envelope and whatever it might have contained in her hand and walked purposefully to the guild, roughly half a mile from her house. Even if most of them didn't know thing one about her, being around the other guild members usually set her at ease.

What could her father possibly have to say to her?

Upon entering the guild, she immediately went up to the second level, well aware that she needed something a little less than the raucousness that dominated the ground floor. Even after six months, she still wasn't quite used to the level of noise that her guild – her home – could reach even when they were in Quiet Mode. Placing herself at a high round table, she slid a fingernail underneath the wax seal to loosen it and pulled out the papers within. Frowning, she noted idly that one of the papers was actually a map a Caelum, another country in Earthland that was about a two days' boat ride away. Shaking her head slightly, she forced herself to read the letter.

_My dearest Lucy,_

_Firstly, I must apologize for my actions two months ago. Returning to this guild has renewed my knowledge of the value of money. I have realized that while I was the head of the Heartfilia Konzern, I managed to lose myself in superfluous expenditures. For that, I am deeply sorry. I was especially sorry when my guild members spoke of a pretty blond girl that saved them from an evil mage guild. It might have taken me some time but I realized that it was you and that you had done so because you thought I was already here._

_Now, onto the purpose of my letter. If I know you at all – which I now realize that there are massive things that I should know but do not – you have already noticed the map of Caelum. You were always very observant. I have also included an application to the Love & Lucky guild. Now, before you react too harshly, let me assert that this is directly related to your celestial spirit magic. Through contacts that I have maintained, I have found out that there is a rumor of a celestial key in Caelum. As a matter of fact, there has been an ongoing archaeological dig for the last year. One of my contacts asked if there was a mage that worked with my guild, much as Layla had. I automatically thought of you._

_Though you know I don't base much in hearsay, the rumor says that the key shines with the most brilliant white light and is said to be connected to a very powerful celestial spirit. The story may be distorted, as I believe this key (or whatever it is) has not be unearthed for a few hundred years. However, it is clear that it is a magical artifact and guild policy maintains that all artifacts that contain magic must be inspected by a mage before we decide to sell it, if we do decide to sell it._

_I have told Master Tanaka about you and he agrees that you would be a good asset to add to the guild. I do remember that I have given you lessons in business and trade policy, even if they were few and far between. He believes you could become our magical advisor and I remember that Belo-san had said that you were remarkable at sensing magical presence. You should first check with your guild master to make sure you wouldn't be defying any rules by joining our guild. Send your response as soon as possible._

_Love,_

_Your father, Jude Heartfilia_

Lucy looked up from the letter and pulled loose the last sheet of paper, clearly stated as a Love & Lucky guild member application. If the rumor that her father spoke of held any truth at all, it was likely another platinum key. If she had to guess, she would have to say that it was Hydra. Located in the only country in this world that was completely surrounded by water? The water serpent would be the best guess.

"What's that?"

Lucy flinched, her entire body jumping slightly in surprise. She sighed roughly, turning to glare at the person in question. The expression turned limp, however, when she realized that it was Erza that had scared her so badly.

The scarlet-haired knight mage smiled at her. "Oh-ho, you seem to be doing better, Lucy-chan!"

Folding up the letter, she thought about asking Erza about it before approaching the Master but decided against it. When it came to the platinum keys, she had this almost irrational feeling that it needed to be kept quiet. She didn't need Draco in her ear to tell her that the platinum keys needed to be kept safe. But joining them together… After what Draco had told her about its effect on Zeref, who the golden dragon didn't seem to have any sort of grudge against, she wasn't sure that was such a good idea either.

So, Lucy just shrugged and grinned at her friend, putting on the happy-go-lucky face that everyone was so familiar with. "I guess so." She then remembered something that she could talk about. "Erza, what are the S-Class Exams?"

Erza looked upward slightly, thinking about it for a moment before continuing. "The S-Class Exams are something the Master came up with to have qualifying mages for the S-Class missions. He makes up a series of tests to measure battle strength and intellect. He's very big on the group activity part of it and usually nominates a large number of candidates." Suddenly, the knight paused, the gaze growing serious. "You know, you haven't been with us for very long, Lucy. I doubt you'll be nominated."

_She thought that was why I asked?_ Lucy immediately waved her hands dismissively, shaking her head vehemently. "No, that's not why I asked." She stopped and took a breath. "Natsu left me a note about it and said I should ask you about it."

"A note?" This time, Erza grinned and waggled her eyebrows. "Really? That's sweet."

Lucy sighed, rolling her eyes. "It's not like that." Though, if she were truthful with herself, Lucy did wonder why it was Natsu had attached himself to her so readily. Casting her eyes downward, the rueful smile on her face drifted away as she again noticed the letter from her father.

It was time to talk to the Master.


End file.
